


Snows Unknown

by APolaris



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire & Related Fandoms, A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Adultery, Angst, Cheating, F/M, Ned Stark is a fool, Secret Relationship, Treason, bastard on the throne, bastards, but a fool in LOVE, i guess?, secret betrayal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-04
Updated: 2020-09-04
Packaged: 2021-03-06 16:54:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,958
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26282254
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/APolaris/pseuds/APolaris
Summary: In which the royal children are still bastards, but Jaime Lannister is not their father.
Relationships: Catelyn Stark/Ned Stark, Cersei Lannister/Ned Stark, Joffrey Baratheon & Jaime Lannister, Joffrey Baratheon & Jon Snow, Joffrey Baratheon & Ned Stark, Joffrey Baratheon & Robb Stark, Jon Snow & Arya Stark & Bran Stark & Ned Stark & Rickon Stark & Robb Stark & Sansa Stark, Myrcella Baratheon & Arya Stark, Myrcella Baratheon & Ned Stark, Myrcella Baratheon & Sansa Stark, Robert Baratheon & Ned Stark, Robert Baratheon/Cersei Lannister, Tommen Baratheon & Bran Stark, Tommen Baratheon & Ned Stark
Comments: 17
Kudos: 145





	Snows Unknown

**Author's Note:**

> Ok, so I got the idea from the @/asoiafrarepairs prompt page on tumblr, so credit goes to them for that. Anyways, the idea has been stuck in my head ever since. And now I'm considering doing Cersei's POV or not, so yeah...

Ned Stark is a treasonous fool. He knows it more than he’s known anything else in his life. He prays the gods forgive him, but he knows that his mistakes are unforgivable and his honor irredeemable. Still, he cannot bring himself to regret them, wondering sometimes if he’d repeat them all over again if given the chance to go back in time. He shakes his head as he stares at the Heart Tree. It would not do to dwell on what ifs. He cannot go back in time and his mistakes will forever taint history.

Ned Stark loves his wife. Catelyn has a smile that could lighten his heart in his darkest moments. She grounds him in a way no one else can. He owes so much to her. She’d given him five beautiful children whom he adores. She’s helped him when he didn’t know what to do. And she’s loved him when he was not able to love her back. He is able to now, has been able to for many years. He loves her mightily. But she was not always meant for him…

Catelyn was always meant to be Lady Stark, but she was meant for Brandon, and he’d been free to lose his heart to another. He remembers years ago, a golden goddess at a tourney that lead to much devastation. A woman whose smile had upturned his life, whose laugh had chased his dreams and turned his mind to mush, who he’d spent many a night wishing for, who also gave him beautiful children whom he adores.

Cersei Lannister had haunted his dreams and his thoughts for many years of his marriage. He loves her still, he must admit, but that love, that fiery passion of youth, is little more than a background memory compared to the mature and accepting love he holds for Catelyn today. Given an option now, he’d always choose Catelyn over Cersei. But there was a time when Ned would have chosen otherwise, and he is to face the consequences of those times.

Jon Arryn has passed away and the King is now journeying, with his entire family, to Winterfell. Ned had spent every free moment since the raven arrived praying in the Godswood. He knows what the King wants, and he knows he will accept, for some part of him has always wished to have an excuse to stay in King’s Landing. Still, he prays with all his might that his secrets will not unravel with the arrival of the King, for he could not bear the losses if they did.

He hears the calls signaling the much dreaded arrival, and he breaths a final prayer before he makes his way to the courtyard. He watches Catelyn fuss over the children as they stand in their respective positions. Arya is missing, he notes, and it is too late for Catelyn to search for her. The wild girl finally makes an appearance when the first of the King’s court are already riding in. Ned stops her for a moment to pull the helm off her head. He’d be amused if he wasn’t so anxious. His eyes glance over to his children and he is quite proud. Jon stands behind them, and Ned is proud of him too.

The first of the royal family to ride in is the crown prince, next to his Kingsguard uncle. The boy’s dark hair is trimmed neatly, but it is still long enough for the wind to blow it beautifully around his face, bordering his bright emerald eyes and full smirking lips. Ned’s breath catches in his throat, but he quickly composes himself lest he raise suspicion. He notices Sansa and the prince eyeing each other and he wants to scream. He will not allow it. He cannot allow it.

Next, the Queen’s wheelhouse stops in the middle of the courtyard, and Ned cannot stop thinking about what waits inside. Finally, the King rides in, his horse almost appearing to struggle as it carries the fat monarch. Ned waits patiently as the King dismounts his horse with the help of his servants, and at last makes his way towards them. The door to the Queen’s wheelhouse opens then and she steps outside gracefully. Ned’s eyes flit towards her but he quickly returns them to the King as he kneels before him. He lowers his head and mutters words of greeting, only to rise as the King gestures for him to do so.

“You’ve gotten fat,” Robert says, and Ned can’t help raising an amused eyebrow as he looks Robert up and down. Robert laughs and they embrace happily.

Robert moves down the line of waiting nobles then, kissing Catelyn’s hand as Ned bows to kiss Cersei’s. They share a quick look and Ned can’t help but finally let his eyes study the younger prince and princess.

Princess Myrcella is a most beautiful young lady. Her hair is in a stylish updo that lets down half her hair to cover her neck and frame her face. Nothing of the princess’ appearance could be linked to her father. Next to her stands the youngest royal child, whose dark hair is brushed and tied back neatly, much in the same way Ned’s own hair is. Although Prince Tommen does not have curls in his hair like his siblings, he does have the same emerald eyes. Still, that is the only similarity he bears to his mother.

It is said that Prince Joffrey has the look of a younger Renly Baratheon, to which the prince or the king will always reply that he holds no resemblance to that sword-swallower. One need not search far to know who Princess Myrcella’s look comes from, for the Queen is always close enough to provide the answer. But it is young Prince Tommen who no one knows whose resemblance he holds. Some have said that he is entirely unique, but Ned knows the answer the moment his eyes land on the boy. Prince Tommen is his father’s son. Had the boy been wearing Stark colors instead of Baratheon colors, it would have been more than easy to think he was of the North, and Ned supposes the boy was in some way.

Robert calls for him to take him to the crypts, and Ned hesitates for only a single moment, long enough for him to glance at Cersei and for her to call something out to Robert to rest after the trip. Robert ignores her and calls once more for Ned. He sends her an apologetic stare before he follows the King, a prayer in his mind that Catelyn not see what he saw when he studied the royal children.

In the crypts, Robert asks him exactly what he is expecting. Ned accepts the first but firmly refuses the second. He sees a mixture of betrayal and offense on Robert’s face and Ned feels a stab of pain in his chest. He cannot even think of what Robert would actually feel like if he knew why Ned will not allow his lovely Sansa to wed the dashing Prince Joffrey.

The anger is quickly forgotten that night when the feast in honor of the King is held. Ned watches as Robert dishonors Cersei as publicly as possible, and Ned feels past fury rise again in his mind. It does not matter at that moment that Ned and Cersei had dishonored and betrayed Robert in a way that is much much worse. Ned discards the thought then when he sees Cersei and Catelyn on the dais speaking together. Cersei is not his wife, and he does not have the right to offense.

His eyes move to his children, all seated together for the first time in their lives. Only his adoptive son is missing, but Ned won’t dwell on it just now. It is a different sort of joy to watch your children laugh together and Ned’s eyes crinkle happily when Robb, Joffrey, and little Rickon cackle after Arya and Tommen hit Sansa with food while Myrcella and Bran shake their heads with a mixture of amusement and disappointment.

Ned will not think about how Tommen and Arya look to be twins just then.

He notices Catelyn signaling for Robb to take care of the situation, and Robb pouts for only a moment before he carries a sulking Arya to her chambers with Bran and Rickon following obediently. Tommen looks up to his mother then, asking silently what he must do, and receiving a silent reply in return. The youngest prince chases after Robb, presumably to ask for directions to his own rooms.

Only Joffrey, Sansa, and Myrcella remain then, and pleasant conversation falls between the three half siblings. Ned notices the way Sansa blushes as she speaks to Joffrey and he rubs his face worriedly. He’ll need to betroth her to someone soon to prevent Robert from pushing the subject and make her forget about the crown prince.

His eyes land on Myrcella and Ned sighs internally. Arya is not interested in anything of a lady’s duties, but both his eldest daughters deserve to be queens in their own rights, and he feels a deep seated regret that he can’t make them ones.

The next days and nights, he works hard to balance his duties to Winterfell, Catelyn, Robert, and spending time with his children. He cannot spend much time with the princess and princes without raising suspicions, but he aims to get to know them in what time he does have.

He quickly learns that Myrcella is the perfect balance between his Sansa and Arya. She wishes to be wild and free but has no trouble holding herself in the courts of King’s Landing. Joffrey is the perfect mixture of him and Cersei that he never knew was possible. The boy is loud, cunning, demanding, and arrogant in a way that only someone reassured of their importance since birth is, but he is also attentive, righteous, kind when need be, and protective of his mother and siblings.

Joffrey is strong and capable, his mother had made sure of that. Ned watches him as he and Robb and Jon all take turns dueling each other, a different winner every time, ending with a friendly shake of hands. At some point, Joffrey insists that his Uncle Jaime show him and the other boys a few tricks and all three spend days trying to repeat them. Still, Joffrey does not spend all his time playing. Instead, the prince attends to and reads ravens from King’s Landing that Robert couldn’t be bothered with. Ned’s pride is colossal even though he had no hand in raising the boy.

On the other hand is Tommen. The youngest prince is not only a son of the North in appearance, Ned discovers, but in temperament as well. He is quiet and well-mannered, spending his days with Bran attending to Maester Luwin’s lessons and his nights reading. His emerald eyes seem cold, as cold as the North, but Ned knows. Ned knows how much love the boy is capable of. It seems to Ned though that Tommen had inherited something else from his mother, something that no one else would think to look for. Tommen Baratheon does not have wolf blood, and for that Ned Stark is thankful, because while Joffrey Baratheon’s wolf blood is easily explained as his boisterous persona, Tommen is only one step away from being a Northman.

The day Robert calls for a hunt, Ned’s children are conflicted. Joffrey tries to decline on the basis of missing imperative ravens on their five night disappearance. Robb is both excited and hesitant of his father’s reaction. Arya begs to join them and Ned can see the same desire in Myrcella’s eyes as she stands proudly next to Sansa, who is furious with her sister. Bran and Tommen are grateful that they are too young to accompany them, preferring more sophisticated forms of amusement. Rickon does not care for the whole ordeal.

In the end, neither the children nor Ned himself have any say in the matter. Robert is king, and what Robert says goes. Thus, the crown prince begrudgingly leaves Winterfell with them. Ned hides it perfectly, but he does his best to get to know said prince during their trip, for he will not have such an opportunity again any time soon.

Ned learns that the dark haired boy is competent with a bow, but no where near as skilled as he is with his sword. His sworn shield, the Hound, closely trails behind him, and as memories of a princess and her children brutally murdered surface in his mind, Ned is thankful that there is someone looking out for the boy from the dangers of King’s Landing’s schemers.

The boy and the Hound are not friendly. The Hound is too hostile to ever be close with anyone. But Prince Joffrey and Sandor Clegane have an understanding between them, a sort of ease in knowing exactly what each of them is capable of and knowing how to read each other’s signals and body language. It seems though that the boy is on pleasant terms with most of Robert’s Kingsguard, with Meryn Trant being the exception. Ned is glad for that too. The boy will need their adoration and loyalty when he is king.

Robb and Joffrey joke and laugh much, and Robert laughs too, reminding Ned of days gone by when they were as young and carefree. Ned smiles and pretends amusement, but he is conflicted between anguish of his treachery and memories of jubilant occasions with Benjen. He hates to admit it even in his mind, but he’d never laughed with Brandon as hard as Robb laughs with Joffrey. Brandon had always overshadowed him. It matters not now, and Ned will not damp his happiness at his boys’ camaraderie with reminiscence.

The hunt is over soon enough and Ned is only slightly saddened to be back in Winterfell. He greets Cat and the children with a beaming heart, spending as much time as possible with his trueborn children as he worries over how long he will be in King’s Landing. Some part of him wonders if this will make him closer with his and Cersei’s children than he is with his and Cat’s children.

The preparations are too easy, too quick for Ned’s liking, and all too soon they are in the hall holding a feast too large once more. It is too similar to one held not long ago, with Robert publicly dishonoring the Queen while she looks on from the top of the dais next to Catelyn. Benjen pats him on the back, a comforting reassurance that he’d escaped what he had been dreading most.

They will be leaving on the morrow, and he will be spending the night worshipping Cat. He does not want to part with her, misses her already, but Robb needs her still, and he is too relieved that Cat won’t discover his secret to insist too long she come with them. She already sees through his excuse of duty and Cersei will not leave him to his own devices for too long now that they will be out of the watchful eyes of Winterfell. He will not bed her, has not bedded her since Tommen was conceived, but they have lots to discuss, lots to oversee in regards to their children, and Cat would become suspicious.

He considers if Cersei will even allow him to become familiar with their children with how long he’s been out of their lives.

His eyes scan the hall once more. Robb and Joffrey speak cheerfully while Jon grins contently. Ned had been glad when the crown prince had asked for Jon to be present in the parting feast even though it broke all customs, and Catelyn had had no choice but to accept. Sansa, Myrcella, and Arya converse, Myrcella acting as the buffer that finally forces the two sisters to be peaceful when spending time together. At the end of the table sits Bran, Tommen, and Rickon, who had been allowed to sleep at a later time for this special occasion.

When dawn arrives and brings a new day with it, Ned feels both anxiety in the pit of his belly and hope fluttering in his chest. His children and wife say their final farewells and Sansa and Arya make their way into the Queen’s wheelhouse. Bran and Jon mount their horses, waiting patiently as the servants help the fat king onto his own. Ned stops himself from shaking his head as he turns to Catelyn, giving her a final kiss and patting Robb on the back before mounting his own steed.

The trip is mostly peaceful, until they reach the crossroads between the Wall and King’s Landing. Tyrion jests as he follows the Night’s Watchmen. Ned, Jon, and Bran remain at the end of the traveling parties. Bran promises to write to Jon if he does the same, and leaves. Jon asks about his mother, and Ned’s eyes flit to where Joffrey is speaking with Bran now. Jon is a bastard, but not his, and Ned contemplates if he should tell him when his true bastards live comfortable lives as royals.

He gives a promise to tell him the truth the next time he meets him. Ned does not believe he will be coming back to the North for some years and Jon would be a grown man by then.

As he parts with Jon and hurries his steed to reach Robert at the start of the parade, Ned cannot help the excitement at what is to come. At the back of his head, a voice whispers hopes that he would not regret this.

**Author's Note:**

> Listen I just love the idea of Nedsei bastards ok! All jokes aside though, this was really fun to write and I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did.


End file.
